The New Year is always exciting for me. I love to look back and make lists of some of my favorites of the previous year. It has been a ritual of mine for a while as a way to keep a nostalgic record of the years. Music is obviously a big part of how I experience life. A favorite covers list is actually something I had yet to do until now, but I already feel that it’s going to be a necessity moving forward. That said, this was an extremely difficult process. After a couple weeks (or a few months) of repeatedly listening to hundreds of tracks, I was able to narrow my engorged list down to 15. Here they are below in no particular order – to rank them would have delayed this article until the Spring:

Lissie “Pursuit of Happiness” (Kid Cudi Cover)

Although she may have started playing this cover during a 2010 tour, I’m including it on my 2011 list because it was technically released on a live EP midway through the year.

Whitney’s cover in The Bodyguard definitely set the bar for this track. I thought it was interesting to hear it from a male perspective. The song still stands strong as a haunting and powerful piece of music.

I first heard this song surprisingly in the above Chipotle commercial. Aside from that fact the video is actually very impactful due hugely to Willie’s cover.

Bekah Touma is excited about and has a great appreciation for how music influences and makes its way into the everyday, in her life and others. She currently works at Format Entertainment as a Music Coordinator/Supervisor/Jackknife.

HELLO!

Amanda Krieg Thomas is a Music Supervisor in Los Angeles at leading music supervision company, Neophonic Music & Media.

Tadpole Audio is her personal blog of industry advice, news, and sometimes even music she likes (and thinks you might as well!) All opinions are her own. Her music supervision credits can be found here, and professional bio can be found here.

She also enjoys craft beer, entertaining friends, good coffee, living on the border of Silverlake and Echo Park, but being a Connecticut girl at heart, adventures large and small with her husband and two cats, roadtrips, spin, yoga, and brunch.